Race Discrimination

This page contains summaries of some of the most important cases published in C.H.R.R. on this topic (arranged chronologically).

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Shopping Mall Discriminates Against Aboriginal People

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Henderson Development (Canada) Ltd. and Securiguard Services Ltd. discriminated against Gladys Radek, other Aboriginal persons and persons with disabilities.

Henderson owns and operates International Village, a shopping mall opened in 1999 in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The mall contains a large cinema called Tinseltown, a Starbucks, a McDonald's, a 7-Eleven and a number of other shops.

Gladys Radek is a middle-aged Aboriginal woman with a disability. She has mobility problems because she had a leg amputated after a motorcycle accident and she sometimes limps. She receives provincial disability benefits. At the time in question Ms. Radek lived across the street from the mall in Vancouver Native Housing. She alleged that she was discriminated against with respect to a public service on the grounds of race and disability by Henderson and Securiguard.

A Nova Scotia Board of Inquiry found that the Halifax Regional Police Service discriminated against Kirk Johnson on the basis of race when a police officer stopped Mr. Johnson and his cousin while they were driving, fined Mr. Johnson and towed away his car.

In April 1998 Earl Fraser and Kirk Johnson, who are both black, were pursued on Highway 111 by Constable Sanford and stopped at a shopping plaza just off Main Street in Dartmouth. Mr. Fraser was driving Mr. Johnson's Texas-registered 1993 black Ford Mustang. The Constable asked for proof of insurance and vehicle registration but was not satisfied with the documents offered. He ticketed Mr. Fraser, and ordered the car towed. In fact, Mr. Johnson's documentation was valid under Texas law. The seizure was erroneous and the car was released the following day.

Mr. Johnson filed a human rights complaint alleging that he was pulled over and harassed because he is a black man, and that the incident was an example of...

This is an application for judicial review of a decision of a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Tribunal found that Dr. Julius Uzoaba was discriminated against because of his race while he was employed by the Correctional Service of Canada ("CSC"). CSC was ordered to offer Dr. Uzoaba a position at the WP-5 level without inmate contact at the first reasonable opportunity.

The Attorney General of Canada argues that the Tribunal erred in finding that the CSC contravened the Canadian Human Rights Act, and further erred by ordering the CSC to reinstate Dr. Uzoaba at the WP-5 level, which would constitute a promotion from the WP-3 classification officer position which he held at the time his rights were violated.

The Tribunal found that Dr. Uzoaba was discriminated against because of his race because the CSC relied in its evaluation of Dr. Uzoaba's performance on statements and actions of the inmates of Collins Bay Institution which were, in part, motivated...

The Board of Inquiry finds that John Curry and Valdi Foods discriminated against Paula Chiswell by creating and permitting a racially poisoned environment to exist in the workplace while she was employed as a cashier in the Valdi Foods store in Amherstburg, Ontario.

Paula Chiswell, who is black, was hired in January 1991 to work as a part-time cashier in the Valdi Foods store, replacing another employee who was on maternity leave. Ms. Chiswell was fired in March 1991 for insubordination.

In the period while she was employed the Board of Inquiry finds that John Curry, the manager of the store, mimicked the accents of some of the store's customers, "jokingly" called Ms. Chiswell "a little old black lady on a broom," told Ms. Chiswell and another cashier who was also black that a customer "did not know which black cashier to go to," and asked which "nigger" had moved things on the shelves. Mr. Curry also engaged in and allowed other employees to engage in race-...

The Tribunal finds that the National Research Council of Canada discriminated against Dr. Chander Grover because of his race, colour and national origin.

Dr. Grover is a research physicist whose specialty is optics. He was born in India and educated there and in France. He came to Canada in 1978 and was hired by the National Research Council in 1981. Dr. Grover has an excellent reputation in his field. During his first years at the Council Dr. Grover received excellent recommendations, and regular promotions. In 1984 Dr. Grover worked with Dr. Wyszecki of the National Research Council to establish a National Optics Institute in Canada. He devoted part of his time to this project while also continuing his own research at the Council. When the National Optics Institute was functioning, Dr. Grover was offered the position of Scientific Director, but he declined this offer in favour of returning to work full-time at the National Research Council.